Load leveling bags?

[06pwrstrokerbullitt]

I have a set of load leveling air bags on the rear of my truck and I have been using them by just filling manually with shrader valves. Well I have had a train horn and 5 gallon tank and compressor on my truck for a while so I wanted to hook the bags to the air tank. I have all the plumbing done and I have a 3 way air solenoid hooked up. My question is how do I wire this up. I bought a momentary toggle switch that says ON OFF ON. The 3 way solenoid has a 3 wire connections, (+) (-) and Earth. I have wired it up with the two ON's off the toggle switch are going to the (+) and (-) for inflate and deflate the air bags. The OFF on the toggle switch I connected to 12volt. The Earth connection on the solenoid I grounded. My setup does nothing what so ever. What did I do wrong?

[PGreenSVT]

Well - and earth both usually mean negative and + means positive. I would expect a + to both on positions and a common ground. But then I'm not an electrical wizard either.

[06pwrstrokerbullitt]

Well I have to use a wire off each ON on the toggle switch for the solenoid to make one deflate and one inflate. I just don't know where I went wrong. My thinking was with the 12volt on the switch when you either inflate or deflate the bags the solenoid would complete the ground and get power to it from the toggle switch.

[Betaracer]

You should consider a fill and dump valve for each bag. Using a single valve will allow transfer of air between the bags as the load on one side increases. THis action is opposite of what is desired, as during cornering the bag on the outside of the turn would have a greater force applied, and the air would be squeezed into the the inner bag expounding the body roll.

As to the wiring, it depends on the switch, sorta. If the switch has 3 connection points, the center would be for the power from the battery. The + from the valve would then be connected to one of the connection points, and then the - would go on the other. For a 6 prong switch, you can branch the power from battery and then connect to one side of the top and bottom prongs. The + and - wires would then be connected beside the incoming power. The earth of the valve gets grounded to the chassis to complete the circuit.

[06pwrstrokerbullitt]

Well my switch is just 3 prongs so I did it just like you described but the valve does nothing. Maybe I have other problems with the valve

[Betaracer]

I have looked into this a little deeper and every system I have found utilizes a separate solenoid valve for filling and dumping. This means that if you wish to control the bags together you will need two valves (one for controlling the fill, one for dumping the air). If you want to control each individually, you'll need 4 valves.

I strongly suggest you do not plumb such a way that air can be transfered between both bags for the reason stated previously. There is a way to plumb and wire a 3 valve system whereby a valve is installed between the bags. It can be wired so that when the fill valve is opened, the divider valve is too. When it is time to dump the air, that same valve is opened at the same time as the dump valve. Diodes will need to be used so one action doesn't back feed the opposite valve. Care must be taken that the tubing to the bags from air source are of equal length to maintain equal pressure and volume between the bags.

[StarDriver]

I have one air line going to both bags and have no body roll problems whatsoever.